I got some books from amazon today and unlike me have only looked at 1 so far because it is imho so goodIts a knitting book called Vampire Knits by Genevieve Miller (dont let the name put you off) and there are loads of things in it i want to make and not just me my DD16 looked at it with that "im only doing it to please you" look on her face and within a couple of minutes had a pad and pencil and was writing me a list of things she wants. My DD12 who chose the book with me has a list of about 11 things she wants So its definately worth a look especially if you can get it from the library first just to check out the designs.It is an american book but has charts and things in the back for the different names of wool and needle sizes from american to metrici will let you know about my other buys (sewing books)when i can drag myself away from this one. am starting the pulse protectors (fingerless gloves) tonight.

I have made one of the gloves and am really pleased with it will put up a photo once i have my camera sorted out!now i know what i am doing i think i should be able to do a glove in a couple of hours (i havent actually knitted for about 12 years! loving it again tho)its a good job, considering i was making the gloves for me as my DD16 wants them and so does my DD12 so thats 3 setsI am also teaching my DD16 to knit today as well. She has never shown an interest in it before until I got this book now she wants to learn so i have started her knitting a square.she is on msn talking to her friends but is complaining every time her pals talk to her as it is interupting her knitting

Hello all crafty peeps I am after a bit of infoI bought 5 x 50g balls of fancy yarn wool its basically eyelash yarn that I think its calledI have never knitted with this before and was hoping to do a scarf so can anyone tell me the size of needles i should use and approx how many stitches to cast on .yes i am useless but as i think the wool was a bargain £4 for the 5 (i actually bought 10 shhhh) two sets of 5 for scarves for my DD's

So many lovely things.Sorry I can't remember who made the hat, it is gorgeous. if only my daughter was tiny instead of a strapping great 29 year old.Are you selling them on Etsy or Folksy?I bet you make a killing with them.Can you do matching mittens & scarves for bigger people?

Just to let you know Lidl have knitting needles in for £1.49 you get 2 circular needles or a set of 5 double ended. I splashed out and bought a few sets, need to build up my stash of knitting stuff again. They had wool as well but it was more expensive than the factory shop where i have been getting my wool lately

Our dining furniture really doesn't "go" with the look of our new house (but it went a long way to selling the old one!) but a new set is out of the question for quite a few years. It an Ikea table and isn't laminate like the Billy bookcases it's more varnished. I've read that it is possible to paint it with careful sanding and hardcore primer but was wondering if anyone has actually done it? Any advice or tips?

I have used paint and grain on furniture like that to make it fit inI think i just sanded it to give the paint something to stick toused a primer paintthen the paint and grain undercoat (2 coats)and did the grain over the topI think varnishing over that would help it last longer as it does chip and scratch quite easily but to be honest by the time i had done those coats i was bored (and i am a bit nervous of using varnish as i have never used it before) but it is easy to freshen up just an undercoat of paint and grain then a top coatBoth of the paint and grain paints dry quite quickly

alec eiffel wrote:Thanks. It looks like it's all about the prep as with anything else. I'm going to do the table top first - if that goes wrong I'll just continue to use a cloth. Looking forward to it now!

You can get special primer for melamine, I think most of the sheds do their own. http://www.dulux.co.uk/servlet/SiteAdvancedSearchHandler, a link to Dulux site, the cupboard one may not need priming? I've been using Annie Sloan paint, on varnished wood & you don't need to do any sanding or priming, I'm not sure f it works on melamine though.

Thanks for the link Rosie. I like the look of the Annie Sloan paint but we're going for a mid century look so sadly none of the colours are quite right which is a shame.Did the Dulux link come up for you? It's just told me that it's not found.People on the shabby chic thread on MSE have painted melamine stuff & have used those sorts of primers, it may be worth searching on there for first hand experience.

With your 60's theme, have you thought about using either wallpaper, comics or something that would fit with your scheme & varnishing, something similar to http://www.etsy.com/listing/81651811/x-men-coffee-table?ref=cat2_gallery_1When I get my ar5e in gear I'd like tro use ild maps or music scores for inside cupboards & drawers, while looking for furniture I found a few sellers on Etsy & Folksy who do this kind of stuff & I personally think it looks brilliant in the right setting.

The decoupage would be my fallback option. We're not really going for pop art type 60's, more mid century modern so it's a bit more simple and stripped down to the function with blocks of colour. But we shall see!

alec eiffel wrote:The decoupage would be my fallback option. We're not really going for pop art type 60's, more mid century modern so it's a bit more simple and stripped down to the function with blocks of colour. But we shall see!

What is mid century modern? I shall google it & see if it comes up with it. I am intrigued.Loads of images. Now I'm just nosey, what colours are using?(Anything to get out of housework)

And I love the old classic houses The Rietveld Schröder House and the amazing Fallingwater by Frank Lloyd Wright too. So it's kind of simple, organic, but punchy. Not everyone likes it, although it seems to be coming back into fashion at the minute.

Who wouldn't do anything to get out of housework? Colourwise in the dining area we're painting it a kind of leaf green. We'd already had the paint mixed when we removed the 70's wallpaper only to discover that the original paint was one shade lighter than the paint we have so I was made up with that! The kitchen has the original dark brown tiles so we'll be working with them when the time comes. Our bedroom is very much more Scandinavian in feel though I must confess, although I do have a Robin Day chair in there. It's Manor House Grey and everything else is grey and white. The third bedroom has the original copper light fitting which is amazing and I love it (had to wrestle it from the electrician who was chucking it away).

Everywhere else is going to be white or a grey-brown colour, with big prints and lots of orange! It's not a faithful reproduction of how the house was but we're being very inspired by it.